With the passing of legendary filmmaker Donald Shebib in November 2023, Canadian cinema lost one of its greatest figures. To celebrate his legacy as part of National Canadian Film Day the Canadian Film Institute, in partnership with Reel Canada and the Directors Guild of Canada, is proud to present a special screening of Shebib’s groundbreaking 1970 masterpiece, Goin’ Down The Road.
The archetypal Canadian story of leaving one’s small-town home for the big city, Goin’ Down The Road is the tale of Pete (Doug McGrath) and Joey (Paul Bradley), two men from Cape Breton who decide to ditch small-town life and head to better times in the bright lights of Toronto. What they find will be considerably different. With its gritty realist style, unflinching critique of an increasingly materialist society, and finely observed fish-out-of-water narrative, Goin’ not only tells a quintessential Canadian story, but also heralds a new era for fiction filmmaking in English-speaking Canada.
If you haven’t seen it, you must; if you have, see it again!
Tom McSorley